JPS5975314A - Unattended running service car - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To execute a good profile running control by making an unattended running service car provided with a profile sensor run by updating successively to new running information, when changing the direction of a car body. CONSTITUTION:In the course of profile running along a boundary of an untrimmed place and an already trimmed place from the part of a turning place 11D in the vicinity of a start point ST, running information by actual running is stored. Subsequently, in the turning place 11D, when the direction of a car body is changed, a block transfer is executed to a memory range stored in the previous process, storage contents are updated successively, and profile running is executed along the boundary of the running place. Accordingly, even in case when the boundary is like a curve, the profile running control can be executed satisfactorily.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] Uninventedly, an unmanned working vehicle, more specifically, a vehicle that performs ground work within a working area while repeatedly traveling back and forth from one end of the working area to the other. The present invention relates to an unmanned working vehicle equipped with a copying sensor 2 that detects the boundary so as to automatically travel along the boundary between a treated work site and an untreated work site in a process.

This conventional Keyaki unmanned working vehicle is equipped with a sensor on the vehicle body that detects all the boundaries of the driving area, and based on the boundary detection results of this sensor, all steering wheels are automatically steered in a predetermined direction. Tracing control was used to automatically travel along a predetermined course along the boundary.

However, in such conventional scanning travel control, based on the boundary detection result of the scanning sensor, the same amount of steering is repeated in the left and right directions (normal pan-pan control) to drive the vehicle along the boundary, with the neutral position as the overall reference. Since a control means was employed, there were drawbacks as shown below.

In other words, if the boundary is a straight line, there is no problem, but if the boundary is curved, one side will quickly fall out of the boundary if the left and right steering wheels are controlled by the same amount of steering.
This has the disadvantage of constantly repeating useless steering operations in the left and right directions, causing so-called hunting, which prevents control from converging, and significantly deteriorates the ability to follow this curved boundary. Ta.

Particularly, when the unmanned vehicle is configured as an agricultural work vehicle such as a lawnmowing work vehicle, there is a drawback that the work marks become undulating, spoiling the aesthetic appearance.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned concerns, and its purpose is to provide an unmanned vehicle capable of perfectly controlling traveling along the boundary even when the boundary is curved. The aim is to provide all running vehicles.

In order to achieve the above purpose, the uninvented unmanned vehicle @
A distance sensor for detecting the moving distance of the vehicle body and a direction sensor for detecting the running direction are provided, and n direction information detected by the direction sensor is sampled every predetermined traveling distance detected by the distance sensor. The average azimuth of the traveling direction in a predetermined stroke of the reciprocating traveling process is completely detected, and the return angle position of the steering operation in the contour traveling control to the boundary by the contour sensor from the next stroke onwards is offset by a predetermined amount corresponding to the average azimuth. It is characterized by the provision of means for controlling it.

The above number of feature configurations has resulted in the following excellent effects.

That is, by actually traveling a predetermined travel distance, the azimuth of the travel direction that is a state of following the boundary -\ is detected, and from the next stroke onward, the return angle of the steering operation is determined based on the azimuth information detected in advance. (Position) Since it is fully automatically offset by a predetermined amount, there is no need for extra steering operations, and even if the boundary is curved, hunting does not occur as with conventional methods, and the amount of control is reduced. As a result, it has become possible to perform powerful and stable tracing travel control.

Hereinafter, an embodiment of the invention will be described based on the drawings. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a lawn mowing device f! (4) k
A tracing sensor (5A) is suspended so as to be vertically movable, and has the configuration described below for determining the boundary between an unmowed lawn area and a mown area in front of the vehicle body (1), which is the boundary between the running area.

(5B) Entire vehicle body (1) Mowing lawn as an unmanned work vehicle that is installed on the front left and right sides and can automatically travel on a predetermined travel course by controlling the steering based on the boundary detection results of the scanning sensors (5A) and (5B). This consists of a work vehicle.

Furthermore, a fifth sensor (6) is installed on the vehicle body (1) as a distance sensor (6) that generates 91 pulses per unit traveling distance (k) in order to continuously detect the moving distance of the vehicle body (1). 6
A)'! i? In addition, a direction sensor (7) that can detect the direction of travel is also provided.

The front wheels (2), (2) serve as steering wheels, and are usually steered by a predetermined amount in the left and right directions by hydraulic cylinders (8) based on the boundary detection results of the copying sensors (5A), (5B). The copying sensors (5A) and (5B) f″i, respectively, are configured to be
A pair of optical sensors (S,, S,), (S,
τ, S;).

The optical sensors (S, , S,), (Sr, Sr) are
As shown in Figure 3, there are U-shaped sensor frames (
9), (9) are fixed to the sensor mounting frame 0* provided on the lawn mowing device (4), and light emitting elements (P-type) are installed on the inner facing surfaces of the sensor frames (9), (9), respectively. ),, CP□) and photodetector CP,), (P,) k
They are configured as a pair. The vehicle body (1) is placed between the light emitting element (R) and the light receiving element CP,).
As shown in FIG. 4, the optical sensor ( Copying sensor (5A input) consisting of S□, S engineering), optical sensor (sr,
S;) If one of the tracing sensors (5B) is on the uncut field (IIB), place the light sensor (S,) or the optical sensor on the outside of the other tracing sensor. (S
R) is steered so that only the mowed area (11C) is on the mowed area (11C), and the turning area (11A) around the lawn mowing area (11A) is
IID) When it reaches K, it is controlled so that it turns in the direction of the copying sensor, which has been on the uncut land (11B) side.○
As described later, the turning point (11D) is artificially marked in advance on the mown area, and the sensors (5A) and (5B) are configured based on this turning point (LID). All of the optical sensors (S,), (S,), (S), and (S',) make the determination by detecting the mown field.

In addition, the copying sensors (5A), (5B) [not limited to those using optical sensors (Sl, Sg), (S'+-8'), any type of sensor, whether contact type or non-contact type, The orientation sensor (7) has an excitation coil (Co) attached to a toroidal core (7a) as shown in Fig. Output coil (Cx),
(Cy)' is wound, and when an external magnetic field (earth magnetism) is applied to the toroidal core (7a), which is an alternating current passed through the excitation coil (Co), the output coils (Cx), (Cy)
V? - configured to generate an alternating current signal voltage proportional to this external magnetic field, and after amplifying the alternating current signal voltage generated in the output coils (Cx) and (Cy) with a predetermined V bell trench,
This DC voltage (Vx), (Vy)
The toroidal core (7a) Ire constituting the orientation sensor (7) is configured to determine the orientation from the ratio of the orientation sensor (7). ), which completely corrects the difference in detected magnetic sensitivity with respect to the orientation of the output coils (Cx) and (Cy), and also corrects the difference in the detected magnetic sensitivity with respect to the orientation of the vehicle body (1) with respect to a predetermined orientation.
The vehicle is configured to detect the relative running direction of the vehicle.

The rotation mechanism (A)'i comprises a non-magnetic material.

The toroidal core (7a) is fixed to the racket (7b), and a motor (7C) is installed on this bracket (7b) so as to be rotatable in the left and right directions, and a sensor that detects the entire rotation angle of the bracket (7b) is used as a rotation angle detection device. A potentiometer (PM)'ft is provided on the shaft center opening. Similarly, this direction sensor (7) is connected to the front wheel (2).
, (2) steering angle or the distance sensor (
Detecting the running direction angle of the fifth wheel (6A) as 6),
It is also possible to use other types of sensors that detect the running direction. On the other hand, the distance sensor (6) n generates one pulse session for every unit movement distance (k) of the vehicle body (1). By counting this pulse a predetermined number of times, it is configured to detect a predetermined moving distance (lA)'.

Below, each sensor (5A) and (5B) having the above configuration.

A control system that completely controls the running of the vehicle body (1) will be explained based on the information from (6) and (7).

As shown in FIG.
The signals of the copying sensors (5A), (5B), distance sensor (6), and direction sensor (7) are inputted to the input interface A4) to 4).Based on the signals from these sensors, the electromagnetic It is configured to operate the pulp Qf9', fully drive the hydraulic cylinder (8) which is the actuator, and output a control signal which is the result of W operation to the output interface OQ in order to operate the front wheels (2), (2). It is.

Before mowing the lawn at the lawn mowing work area (IIA) shown in FIG. Travel one or two strokes while performing work.

After that, as shown in Figure 4 above, the starting point (S
T) Nearby turning area (11D) part J: The scanning sensor (5A
), (5B), the front wheel (2),
(2) When the vehicle is steered to '', tracing travel control is started, and the vehicle automatically travels in a predetermined direction.

On the other hand, during this tracing run, the actual running course information between the turning points (LID), that is, the running distance (4) and the direction, are sampled and stored, and the control information for the next and subsequent steps is stored. That is to say.

The teaching of sampling and storing this driving course information will be explained below. This driving course teaching is basically applied to the "Unmanned Driving Vehicle" (Japanese Patent Application No. 121566/1988) that was previously filed by the non-applicant. This is carried out by the same means as the adopted driving course teaching means, and the distance sensor (6) K is a pulse every predetermined travel distance (to) determined in advance as the sampling interval of the driving course. It is configured as an interrupt process that is activated with the highest priority by a signal that is emitted by a count.

I would like to add this program to the destination (as shown in Figure 4 above).
], IID to uncut land CIIB), the vehicle body (1) enters the unmoved land CIIB), and the optical sensors (S,), (S,), (Sr), ( The n1 all-light sensor (St), (s, ), (Sf), (Sr) starts from the time when one of the sensors (Sr) detects all the unmowed land. The configuration is such that all traveling course information for each stroke is sampled and stored so as to finish at a certain point.

That is, as shown in FIG. 7, when tracing starts from one end of the turning point (11D) of the uncut area (IIB), the pulse signal from the distance sensor (6) starts counting. , when the vehicle body (1) travels a predetermined travel distance (t.),
The driving direction (ω) detected by the orientation sensor (7) at that point in time and the total travel distance (4) from the start of counting to the present are stored in a predetermined memory range provided within 1η by the control device. The course is stored as teaching information that is a sample of the course.

Thereafter, when the copying sensors (5A) and (5B) detect that the turning point (IID) has reached the other end, the traveling direction (
The average azimuth (θo) of the entire running direction of the -stroke is detected, and the direction change is performed.

Then, in the next stroke, the steering angle corresponding to the average azimuth (θ0) of the traveling direction that was changed laterally in the previous stroke is offset by a predetermined amount as the return angle of the steering operation, and when the tracing traveling control is in the neutral state. That is, when the vehicle body (1) reaches a state along the boundary of the running area, control is performed so that the vehicle body (1) automatically runs in a direction along the curvature of the running course.

In this way, when the vehicle body (1) changes direction at the turning point (LID), the memory range stored in the previous step is applied to the driving course information (t, θ, θo) taught for each step. Then, the newly taught NYC driving course information (t, θ, θo) is transferred to the love lock, and the memory contents are sequentially updated while driving along the boundary of the driving area. Course information (t, θ, θ)
Even if the teaching process is simplified so that only the first step is taught, there is no problem. Figs. .

[Brief explanation of drawings]

The drawings show an example of an unmanned driving operation industry related to the invention,
Figure 1 is an overall side view of the lawn mowing vehicle, Figure 2 is an overall plan view of the lawn mowing vehicle, Figure 3 is a front view of the main parts of the copying sensor, Figure 4 is an explanatory diagram of the travel course, and Figure 5 is an illustration of the driving course. A schematic diagram showing the configuration of the orientation sensor, Figure 6 is a block diagram of the control system,
Fig. 7 is an explanatory diagram of sampling of the running direction, and Figs. 8 (a), (b), and (c) are flowcharts showing the operation of the control device. , (5A), (5B)...
・・Copying sensor, (6) ・・・Distance sensor,
(7)... Direction sensor, (t.)...
・Predetermined travel distance, (...direction information, (θ.)
...Average direction information.

Claims (1)

[Claims] The machine automatically travels along the boundary between treated and untreated work areas in each step, repeating the round-trip process and performing ground work within the work area while going from one end of the work site to the other. In order to detect the boundary, a tracing sensor (5A), (5
B)? The unmanned working vehicle is equipped with a distance sensor (6) for detecting the moving distance of the vehicle body (1) and a direction sensor (7) for detecting the traveling direction, and a distance sensor (7) detected by the distance sensor (6). By sampling the predetermined traveling distance (every tJ) of the azimuth information detected by the azimuth sensor (7) K, the average azimuth (θ)'fI in the traveling direction in the predetermined stroke of the reciprocating traveling process is obtained:
The scanning sensor (5A), (5
The unmanned running vehicle is characterized in that it is provided with means for controlling the return angle position of the steering operation in the border tracing control according to B) to be offset by a predetermined amount corresponding to the average azimuth (θ.).